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This is what George F. Black had to say about
the Sinclair surname. Thought his assessment of their "clanship"
interesting in light of recent discussions about origins.
"SINCLAIR. This Caithness surname is
of territorial origin from St. Clare in the arrondisement of Pont d'Eveque,
Normandy. The first Sinclairs in Scotland appear to have been vassals of
the great territorial magnates, de Morville. Their first possession in
Scotland was the barony of Roslin, near Edinburgh, which they held in the reign
of David I (1124-1153). The earliest bearers of the name appear in
charters connected with the abbeys of Dryburgh and Newbattle, the Hospital of
Soltre (now Soutra in Midlothian), the church of Glasgow, etc. An early
offshoot of the family became all powerful in Caithness and held the earldom
there from 1379 to 1542. The frequency of the surname in Caithness and in
the Orkneys is due to the tenants on the lands of the earldom adopting the name
of their overlord just as we find tenants who possessed no surnames of their own
doing likewise elsewhere.
"The Sinclairs, like the Gordons and some
other families, cannot be called a clan in the true sense of the term.
They were a powerful territorial family, whose relationship to their dependents
was entirely feudal... An old rhyme referring to the bickerings between
the Sinclairs and their neighbors says: 'Sinclair, Sutherland, Keith and Clan
Gunn, There never was peace when thae four were in.'
"...In Argyllshire the name is used as an Englishing of
Gaelic Mac na cearda."
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